It is difficult to be anything other than dazzled by astounding cure rates of up to 100% from a multitude of interferon-free hepatitis C virus (HCV) clinical trials presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) meeting in November 2012. Proof of concept has been established: hepatitis C, a disease that claims more than 350,000 lives annually, can be cured with three months of oral antiviral drugs.

These incredible advances bear scrutiny, since most of these interferon-free trials enrolled people with minimal liver disease—many of whom were being treated for the first time. Information about safety, efficacy, and tolerability of interferon-free regimens is needed in other groups, such as people coinfected with HIV, liver transplant candidates and recipients, and people with cirrhosis (especially those who are treatment-experienced)—in other words, people with the greatest immediate need of a safe and highly effective cure.

I have a lot of confidence that these interferon-free drugs are going to be able to hold up to the scrutiny. Maybe because I am an optimistic person in general, but from what I have read, the results seem really solid so far. Obviously, I think that you have raised a really good question about the patients tested with these drugs so far, but I still think that these drugs could produce impressive cure rates in other participant populations.

That was new information to me. I am doing in a research on the medical studies last year, and the information you have provided here been a great help for me. Thanks to you for taking time to share such relevant information. Please keep up the good work.